Catastrophe Dragon
by Aegis100
Summary: Beginning in the 9th Century, a fledgling dragon of unimaginable power begins his journey to become the third Heavenly Dragon. (Slight AU) (OC MC)
1. Prologue

**Hungary, 815 AD**

A couple laid on the ground in complete darkness, clutching each other. They were on a thin bed of straw, trying to fall asleep to no avail. A cow was lying next to them on the dirt floor, clearly in fear.

The couple whispered into each other's ears to provide some semblance of comfort, most of it being mumbled prayers or unintelligible nonsense.

The pounding of raindrops began to be heard through the wood walls of their home, which rapidly turned to a downpour. Soon enough, a drop leaked through the straw, making a soft thump on the dirt floor. One drop turned into two, two into three, and eventually, the entire roof was leaking.

The couple shivered now in their dirty rags, moving closer to their cow for warmth. The rumor around the land was that a dragon had been terrorizing the neighboring estates, with a massive storm always preceding it. Their neighbors had told them stories of loud roars, booming thunder, and blinding lightning. Some people said that it was divine punishment for their sins, with the dragon only killing those who had not repented. Others said that it was the gods demanding a sacrifice due to their disregard for ancient practices.

Whatever the reason, they all agreed on one thing, the name of the dragon.

 _Zomok._

As the night progressed, the couple became more and more nervous, waiting for the signs that they have been told would come. Thunder had been booming in the distance since before the storm had arrived, getting closer as time passed.

After an eternity, it came.

A flash of light lit up their house for a fraction of a second, blinding their eyes. A moment later, an ear-splitting roar shook the house to its very foundations, deafening them.

Robbed of their senses, they did not notice the flimsy and wet straw covering their heads being ripped away from its wood support.

A hooked claw maneuvered its way into the shack, impaled the cow next to them, and retracted. The sounds of bones snapping and chewing were drowned out by the storm that continued around them, unabated.

The couple was seemingly the same body now, clasping to each other to anchor themselves. Water pelted them in a rushing downpour from the now open roof, soaking their clothes.

The sounds of a meal being eaten soon stopped, with vibrations lessening with each one replacing them.

After a time, they stopped altogether.

 ***SLAP***

Something impacted the wooden walls of the hut, making it collapse as the shaky foundation finally gave in. The couple spent their final moments in terror with their senses robbed of them, ending their short and hard existence.

* * *

Dragons.

Powerful beings formed out of raw energy, the apex predators of the supernatural world.

Each dragon represented a different facet of reality, making them literally forces of nature.

They took no sides, disregarded the wishes of others, and did as they wished.

They were honorable, and their pride ran to a fault.

The concept of a dragon was forged in the crucible of suffering and superstition of Medieval Europe, although they existed long before.

Before humans had set foot outside of Africa, dragons were evolving from their history as animals with sentience to beings with complicated social structures, rules, and ladders.

Historically, dragons were isolated hunters, only coming together to mate and raise their young in couples.

As time progressed, the dragon species proliferated, facing no competition. Young dragons looking to stray away from their parents had to search for new hunting grounds, touring around Europe for suitable land.

After millennia after millennia of breeding, the land began to become scarce. Drakes(1) could no longer find a piece of land after only a month or weeks of searching. Eventually, the time became years, then decades, then centuries.

Eventually, drakes began to battle for land as well as mates, forcing different clans to interact with each other outside of mating and raising a family.

These battles for territory were the crucible where dragons formed their identity, their culture, and ultimately society. Losing a battle over territory meant that they would go without food for centuries, losing their chance of obtaining a mate, and potentially having to endure the shame of leeching off of their parent's territory.

In response to this, drakes began to develop personalities with bravado and pride bordering on hubris. They had to, or else others who did would run them over and they would lose everything.

A complex web of interactions formed in this young generation, with drakes regularly interacting with each other, making the basis for social interaction. Soon, some drakes formed bonds beyond those of competing alphas, blossoming into friendships, alliances, and rivalries.

These friends, associates, and rivals began to have social gatherings to showcase their strength and abilities and enjoy other dragon's company. She-dragons began to attend these gatherings, first to choose a mate, but eventually to form friendships, alliances, and rivalries of their own.

Many famous names rose out of this new generation, however in Britannia two rivals stood out. The newly crested Red Dragon Emperor Y Ddraig Goch and the White Dragon Emperor Albion battled ceaselessly in search of vanquishing the other, inspiring many.

Their tales reached the far ends of dragon society, elevating them to celebrity status with the likes of Tiamat and Crom Cruach. While neither of them cared about their newfound popularity, their obsession with strength and their eternal battle inspired many drakes for many generations.

However, the renaissance of dragon society and their dominance of Europe had to end someday. Over centuries, temperatures began to drop and the land became more and more hostile.

Land became even scarcer as hunting grounds disappeared, covered by ice hundreds of feet high. Dragons could not yet survive cold temperatures save for the powerful and elemental dragons.

Many dragons simply refused to give up their hunting grounds that they had earned, dying of starvation due to their stubbornness.

The dragons who died migrate south met an equally unfortunate circumstance; overpopulation.

Aided by the cold temperatures, many dragons died by starving or just losing the will to live.

Over thousands of years, the dragon population dropped drastically, leaving only ten percent of the dragon population living by the time a new threat appeared from the south: Humanity.

Humans had over thousands of years migrated up from their African homeland, reaching first the Levant(2) and the rest of the Middle East, eventually coming into conflict with the dragon's hunting grounds.

In this weakened state, the dragons were unable to put up a defense against the flood of humans entering their territory.

Dragon society was first contracted, then forced to go into safe havens of the mountains, congregating together in cramped conditions.

The most powerful of dragon society had various reactions to the change in environment. Ddraig and Albion continued their legendary battle throughout Europe, disregarding humans completely. Tiamat remained integrated with dragon society, serving as their light in this dark time. Crom Cruach took it upon himself to bring unto the humans a vengeance that they had never seen the likes of before. He slaughtered as many humans as he possibly could, being known for his brutality. He was celebrated by dragon society for his bravery and power.

The struggle between the two species was not entirely one-sided, although it was heavily skewed. The best of humanity on occasion killed dragons, such as Cadmus, the King of Phocis(3). He killed a water dragon, marking the first dragon killed by humans, but it would not be the last. Facing a dragon required valor, skill, and recklessness, so only a few would be true dragonslayers throughout history. However, the widespread fame of these few provided some semblance of comfort to humanity that they were fighting back.

Among the cramped conditions of caves, a hierarchy began to be developed within dragon society, putting different dragons at differing levels of power.

At the top was Ophis, the Infinite Dragon God, and regarded by many as the first dragon created out of the dimensional gap, representing nothingness and infinity.

A level below Ophis were the two Heavenly Dragons, Y Ddraig Goch and Albion. They had grown in power exponentially over the past centuries due to their unceasing battling and training, developing new techniques dragons had thought previously impossible. They were in a class of their own.

A step down from the Heavenly Dragons was true prodigies of their generations, the Dragon Kings. The first two dragons placed into this category were Crom Cruach and Tiamat, however, in the new generation, two more dragons distinguished themselves as exceptionally powerful.

Their names were Tannin, the Blaze Meteor Dragon, and Zomok, the Dragon of the Storms. Tannin's breath was told to have the strength of a meteor, with it only being second to Ddraig's legendary Blazing Flames.

Zomok commanded complete mastery over the weather, becoming the ultimate elemental dragon. He was told to be able to summon hurricanes, blizzards, and tornadoes at will, frequently sending them against humans to impede their advancement into Europe.

Zomok and Tannin being the two great prodigies of their generation were frequently compared to each other, and there was quite a fierce debate among drakes over which of the two was stronger.

Demand began to grow for a fight between the two, and eventually, the two acquiesced to a duel. The fight was dubbed by some the "Battle of Kings" or the "New Heavenly Dragons", with the opinion being that they were equal in power.

However, the battle was nothing but equal. Tannin's fire breath proved to be ineffective against the furious storms of Zomok, and Tannin was forced to be grounded as lightning continually pummeled the battlefield. After a short fight, Zomok was named the victor, and the strongest of the third generation(4) of dragons(5).

Eventually, the ice began to melt, reopening up hunting grounds. As a result, the dragons spread back to their original homelands but retained their communities and correspondence between them.

Humans spread like a plague as the glaciers receded, enforcing the status quo across Europe. Dragons were still extremely resentful of humans, however as the human population grew, a phenomenon occurred which would forever change the course of Earth's history.

Humans, like dragons, had sentience. Sentience was the driving force of the universe, with each sentient being having a soul, and as a result of that, energy. Over time, humans had created their myths and legends, and the more that believed, the more real those myths and legends were.

As the human population grew denser, specific emotions began to be developed that were specific to humanity. The concepts of dreaming, mischief, and greed were created, among many other things.

The energies of these concepts grew into dragons, with humans creating them. Sometimes knowingly, sometimes unknowingly. The True Dragon, Great Red, was created as a result of the dreams and ambitions of humanity. Yu-Long, the dragon of mischief, was created as a result of the rampant bandits wandering the countryside. Fafnir, the dragon of greed, was created as a result of kings, merchants, and nobles hoarding their fortunes.

These dragons grew alongside humanoid supernatural beings as well. Each culture had their pantheon of deities, with the Assyrians and the Babylonians, then eventually the Norse, Slavic, and other European cultures coming next. Eventually, the most widespread religions of all time were born out of the deserts of the Middle East, the Abrahamic religions. They had a slow start due to the political climate of the region, however, they burst into popularity in the Middle East and Europe.

This massive collection of believers made God, the deity of the Abrahamic religions, the most powerful deity on Earth, second only to Great Red and Ophis. He created the Angels, which split into the Fallen Angels and Devils due to ideological reasons.

The story of this creation and God's works was chronicled by various human authors, which came to be known as the Bible.

The new dragons, the fourth generation, began to integrate with dragon society. These dragons forced the rest of dragon society to accept humans as a necessary evil and stop trying to wipe them out as a species. They determined that it was impossible and would only regress the state of Earth as a whole.

In the new era, three new dragon kings were appointed. The Dragon of Prisons, Vritra, the Dragon of Greed, Fafnir, and the Dragon of Mischief, Yu-Long were all raised to the status.

Two dragon kings had left the rank, one with disgrace and the other by obtaining power. Crom Cruach began to be shunned by dragon society as his brutality against humanity continued as public opinion began to turn.

As a result of his continued actions, he was deemed an 'Evil Dragon' and ostracized by dragon society.

On the other hand, Zomok had ascended past the status of Dragon King. As he matured, his powers did as well, putting him into a class between the two heavenly dragons and the dragon kings. He also grew to be more and more of a battle maniac as his hatred against humans lessened, driving him to train and grow his power. The rumor was that Zomok aimed to be the third Heavenly Dragon and take part in Ddraig and Albion's battle.

Ascending to that status takes centuries of battling and training with the toughest of foes, a journey which the fledgling dragon had just begun.

History now dawns on early Medieval Europe, with Christianity quickly becoming the dominating force of most human's lives. A few select dragons have distinguished themselves as the most powerful beings of the world, with a few prodigies rising above the ranks every new generation. Dragon society has reached a cautious equilibrium with humans, living in remote areas in large groups. However, tension is boiling just under the surface of this new dynamic, threatening to overflow.

Zomok has begun his meteoric rise in power, first stationing himself in what humanity knows as Hungary in the 9th Century AD. He will rise to the greatest of heights and fall to the lowest of lows, and whether his story will end a tragedy or triumph is unknown.

* * *

 **Annotations:**

 **(1):** Drakes are young dragons. Traditionally a drake became a full-fledged dragon when he had obtained his hunting territory, however, the term shifted meaning to a dragon from birth to early adulthood. The term also commonly means a dragon who is naive, innocent, or generally inexperienced.

 **(2):** The Levant is a region of the Middle East on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The countries in the Levant include Jordan, Israel, Syria, Lebanon, and various lands of other countries.

 **(3):** Phocis is an ancient city-state in central Greece northwest of Athens. The city-state was annexed into the Aetolian League in 196 BC.

 **(4):** Because of the immortality(at least from age) of dragons, new generations of dragons are forged by cultural developments, not when they were born. These new generations of dragons share common characteristics like Millenials do, or Baby Boomers do.

 **(5):** In this battle, Tannin and Zomok are the age equivalent of early teens. By the end of the chapter, Zomok is on the cusp of adulthood, so the human equivalent of 17/18.

* * *

 **Top Ten Most Powerful Beings:**

 **1.** Great Red

 **2.** Ophis

 **3/4.** Ddraig and Albion

 **5.** God(Abrahamic)

 **6.** Zomok

 **7.** Odin

 **8.** Lucifer

 **9.** Crom Cruach

 **10.** Tiamat

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Hello once again! This is my new story, and I hoped you enjoyed the prologue. I've been a lot more motivated to write this and I've been playing with various story concepts in my head.

With that said, I'm going to be taking a hiatus of The Dragon of The Heavens. Sorry for all of the readers that were looking forward to an update. The only thing that may come out for that story in the near future will be the rewrite of chapter one that I've been working on.

Over my time off, I've realized that great writing is an eventuality, not something that I will immediately have. This is the most basic story concept that I have with enough interest to me that I can be motivated, so it has that balance. It sucks to have(in my opinion) great story concepts but unable to execute them properly because my writing isn't good enough yet.

Once my writing has developed, then I will move onto the more complex and better story concepts that I have developed currently. I also might change the rating for this story down to T, as I don't know if I plan to have anything that is really mature in this fic. I'll see as time goes on.

Anyways, leave a review, follow, and favorite! Feel free to join the DxD exelica server full of active readers and writers.

discord. gg/TGPM9pH


	2. Chapter 1

**The Austrian Alps, 609 AD**

At the mouth of a cavern in the side of a towering, snow-capped mountain, two dragons stood, facing the horizon. One of them was a maturing onyx dragon, the other, a fully grown ivory dragon that radiated power. The ivory dragon was looking at the onyx drake expectantly, while the drake had its eyes closed in concentration.

As time progressed, the clear blue sky began to darken, with storm clouds gathering. The wind began to pick up, alerting the animals thousands of feet below. After enough clouds had gathered, they began to form a thunderhead stretching into the heavens.

Clouds began to gather in a swirl around the thunderhead, moving clockwise in a roughly fifty-mile radius. Raindrops began to splatter onto the stone surroundings, echoing into the cavern behind the two dragons. Soon after, lightning flashed in the distance, with a boom following a second later. The drizzle picked up, with it soon turning into a fierce bombardment of water akin to a firehose. The deluge was now the size of a colossal thunderstorm, being half the size of the smallest hurricane.

Throughout all of this, the ivory dragon looked to the onyx drake with pride in his eyes. However, the older one decided to push the trainee a bit further.

" **Come on, hatchling. You can do so much better than this."**

The drake retaliated quickly to the dragon's verbal jab, saying

" **I'm trying. Shut up."**

The dragon chuckled for a second, then started to up the ante in his prodding.

" **I bet even those idiots Ddraig and Tannin are putting up more power than you are right now. I can't let my disciple get outmatched this easily, might have to find someone else."**

The drake was silent at this remark, although the dragon knew it had aggravated it.

However, what happened next, not even the dragon was prepared for.

The drake's power began to rise rapidly, prompting a surprised look from the older dragon. The drake began to emit lightning, with it crackling off of his skin. His pitch black skin flickered light blue, and his eyes were pure white when he opened them.

Throughout all of this, the storm had grown exponentially in size. It had expanded from its original size to cover a two hundred and fifty-mile radius, stretching from Rome to Frankfurt. The mountain was in the eye of what could only be called a freak of nature.

Gradually, the drake's power rise began to slow down, then stop. Plateauing at a level almost equal to the ivory dragon, the drake remarked,

" **Is this enough,** _ **great master Albion**_ **? I'm pretty sure that** _ **brat**_ **Tannin couldn't even put out a fraction of wha..."**

The drake collapsed, his power steeply declining and the storm dissipating. Albion picked the drake up, putting him in the cavern while beaming of pride.

" **It sure is, Zomok."**

* * *

Zomok had always been a case of exceptions in his life. Whether it be in power or precedent, he was always unique. He was the fifth most potent dragon ever born in his current status, and he had not even fully matured. He had battled with Tannin, the other prodigy of his generation, for dominance over the third generation of dragons and come out victorious.

He was also the disciple of Albion, the White Dragon Emperor.

Granted, Tannin was also the disciple of Ddraig, but Zomok was an entirely different beast. Tannin had extreme strength and exceptional flames, however, Zomok was by far the most powerful elemental dragon to ever exist. His parents were two middle-class elemental dragons who were forced to migrate to the coast of England because of the glaciers. Their new home lead them to meet the Heavenly Dragons, the local powerhouses and protectors of the area.

While Ddraig and Albion cared not for their popularity in the mainland nor the invasion of humans to the south, they did care about Britannia. They acted as the local arbiters of the area and provided the local dragons with safe homes, even taking the drakes on occasional outings to mainland dragon society every once in a while. Of course, they did continue their legendary fight, but for now, the survival of their species was more important.

Despite many offerings, the Heavenly Dragons did not take mates and settle down, even with this new mission they shared. However, they did take up a single disciple each. Albion, of course, took up Zomok, and Ddraig chose Tannin.

Once his training began, Zomok spent more time with Albion than with his parents, with Albion essentially adopting the drake. While sad, Zomok's parents accepted it for the betterment of the dragon race.

* * *

 **Southern Britain, 616 AD**

A pair of drakes crouched at the edge of a clearing in a deep forest, watching a pink blur of movement. Occasionally, the pink blur would separate and a ruby or ivory dragon would be thrown out of the clearing, only for the dragon to swiftly return to the fight less than a second later.

" **They're really going at it this time, huh?"** The ruby drake remarked, clearly enjoying the fight.

" **Eh, we could do better than this. They haven't even debuted any new powers. Might as well practice by myself than watch this squabble."**

As he said this, the onyx drake stood up and prepared to take flight. Before leaving, he said one last thing,

" **Tell Albion to call me when they're done. He'll know where to find me. Get stronger, Tannin."**

Tannin nodded, saying goodbye to his own rival,

" **I will. Get stronger, Zomok."**

At Tannin's goodbye, Zomok leaped into the air, heading north. As Zomok disappeared over the horizon, Tannin inwardly frowned.

Over the last few years, Zomok had begun to grow more distant from the close-knit group of the Heavenly Dragons and their disciples. Him disappearing to go train by himself was not a rare occurrence, and although it reaped him benefits for his strength, everyone was concerned about the storm drake. Something had changed him.

Tannin was soon snapped out of his thoughts by the sound of conversation heading towards him.

" **That was a good fight, Ddraig."**

" **I could say the same for you, Albion. I'm going to have to figure out something new to finally beat you once and for all, the strengths are finally equal."**

" **Oh, quit your blabbering. You have never beat me, and never will."**

" **You must have a poor memory then. Let's pick up the two brats now, I'm tired."**

" **Did you spend all night fantasizing about Tiamat again?"**

" **Pft. I definitely did** _ **not**_ **do that. I was training like I** _ **normally**_ **do."**

" **You are a horrible liar."**

Tannin looked exasperatedly at the Heavenly Dragons' banter as they approached the edge of the clearing, looking at Ddraig with a blank look.

The pair soon caught Tannin's look, stopping their antics in response. They looked first at the ruby drake, then around him as if looking for something. Albion was the first to notice who was missing.

" **Where did Zomok go?"**

Tannin sadly responded,

" **He flew off again to go train. He said you'd know where to find him."**

Albion sighed, pivoting north.

" **Well, I guess I'd better go get him. Farewell, you two."**

Ddraig nodded and said his own goodbye.

" **Farewell, old friend."**

Tannin turned to Albion, looking him straight in the eyes.

" **Good luck, Albion"**

Albion took off, racing off towards the edge of the horizon. After he left their sight, Tannin turned to face Ddraig, looking at him expectantly.

" **We better get going too, kid."**

The two nearly identical dragons then launched themselves into the sky, heading northwest.

* * *

 **Scotland**

* * *

As he approached, Albion took in the familiar scene. There was a lone onyx dragon crouching upon a cliff, looking towards the icy sea. The land was scattered with boulders, ice, and snow, marking the thawing of the ice that had plagued this land for years.

Albion landed gracefully next to Zomok, sitting next to him and looking into the evening sunset. The pair sat in silence until Albion decided to address the elephant in the room.

" **What's wrong, young one?"**

Zomok did not react for a few seconds, gathering his thoughts.

" **I'm scared, Albion. I'm scared of...everything."**

Turning to face Albion, Zomok continued his response.

" **I've heard the humans are in the mainland now, miles away from our island. What if they come here and kill you, or one of my parents? I don't think I could handle that."**

" **I've sacrificed a normal life to become strong just out of ambition. I did it because I looked up to you and Ddraig when my parents told me the tales of your battles."**

" **And guess what? Turns out I'm not just another water elemental dragon, I'm** _ **the**_ **most powerful elemental dragon to ever exist. I can end the world if I want to. In fact, it's tempting to just drown all of the humans right now."**

The wind began to pick up, with the waves getting bigger and slamming into the rocky sand harder. Zomok moved closer to Albion, looking him directly in the eyes as he resumed his monologue.

" **How do you and Ddraig do it? How do you stop yourselves from destroying the world on a whim? You two could easily go into your true forms and end it once and for all. Why don't you?"**

Albion widened his eyes as Zomok mentioned their true forms, and Zomok pounced on his reaction.

" **Why are you so surprised? You saw it back on the mountains when you pushed me. Why didn't you help me** _ **then?**_ _**Why?**_ **...Why didn't you..."**

Zomok's voice began to break as he continued, with his body shuddering and tears beginning to form under his eyes. The wind and waves reached their climax, with ten-foot swells forming and wind beginning to pick up snow.

" **Why** _ **me?**_ **Why did it have to be** _ **me?**_ "

As Zomok continued to break down, Albion put his wing over the trembling and sobbing form of the drake. The waves slowly died down and the gust dissipated. After a few moments of calming the drake down, Albion spoke.

" **Maybe we aren't so different after all."**

Sniffling, Zomok looked up at the Vanishing Dragon, confused.

" **W-what do you mean?"**

Albion shifted his gaze to the horizon, reminiscing.

" **I was exactly like you when I was your age. I was a dragon that was unmatched in power, searching for some meaning to this existence. I vanquished all who I faced until Ddraig came along. He was the first one who I couldn't defeat, and he couldn't defeat me. We gave each other a purpose here. Without him, I would have committed suicide."**

" **The reason we don't transform is that we value this existence that we have. Long ago, we discovered other reasons for living beside fighting, and now, we have something to fight for. I found you, and Ddraig found Tannin."**

" **For your sake, find your reason to fight. Whether it's a cause, a friend, or love, you need to find it. Without it, you'll go insane. You're not invincible, no matter what you might think."**

Zomok shakily nodded, digesting what his pseudo-father had said.

" **Can we just...stay here for a while?"**

" **Whatever you need, young one."**

* * *

 **Big thank you to Belial the Liar and Revan's Stories for helping me write this chapter as well as giving me input on the story in general.**

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

Hello everyone! Hope you enjoyed the chapter, sorry if it's a bit short. I just wanted to focus on the dynamic between Zomok, Tannin and the Heavenly Dragons and humanize them a bit more. Next chapter will have a time skip onto when Zomok becomes a Dragon King and he starts developing romantic interests. Who will he attempt to court?

I should have the next update up within a week or two, and it should be bigger, but no promises.

Anyways, leave a review, follow, and favorite. See all of you next time!


End file.
